Abstract
A solvent-free method to fabricate graphene-reinforced nanocomposites in net shape via digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing has been developed in this work. The effect of graphene nanofillers on resin viscosity and wettability for various printing parameters has been examined, with a systematic characterization of the mechanical and thermomechanical properties. With the addition of 0.5 wt.% graphene nanoplatelets in the resin, the flexural modulus and fracture toughness have been improved by 14% and 28% from neat resin, respectively. Thermomechanical properties of graphene-reinforced nanocomposites were also enhanced compared with the neat resin, without scarification in their printability. The feasibility of utilizing the DLP method to fabricate a fracture toughness specimen (KIC test) without complex skill-dependent notch preparation steps was explored, with different notch tip angles printed for net-shaped specimens. This provided a simple and versatile way to perform a quick examination of reinforcing efficiency from nanofillers at very low cost with high resolution and reproducibility. To demonstrate the suitability of current resins for complexly shaped structures, a gyroid scaffold for tissue engineering applications based on current graphene nanocomposite resins has been successfully fabricated via DLP, showing the great potential of current photocurable resins for applications in various fields such as tissue engineering or personalized medical devices without the cost barriers of traditional methods.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing (AM), which is widely known as 3D printing, has attracted a great amount of attention over the last few years due to its capability to create complex 3D geometries with desired performance, leading to applications in various fields such as biotechnology [1], landslide modeling [2], medical applications [3], conductive devices [4], and sensors [5]
The graphene after liquid-phase probe sonication were obtained without obvious aggregation, which is believed to flakes after liquid-phase probe sonication were obtained without obvious aggregation, which is be crucial for later Digital light processing (DLP) processing
The degradation temperature of the graphene-reinforced nanocomposite was higher than neat resin (T5% increased from 268 °C to 284 °C), showing that the addition of graphene could enhance the thermal stability of graphene-modified resin
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM), which is widely known as 3D printing, has attracted a great amount of attention over the last few years due to its capability to create complex 3D geometries with desired performance, leading to applications in various fields such as biotechnology [1], landslide modeling [2], medical applications [3], conductive devices [4], and sensors [5]. The use of DLP to provide rapid layer-by-layer curing for nanofiller-reinforced resins which maintains the original level of dispersion is favored to avoid agglomeration during the lengthy curing processes, especially for mechanical properties. A UV-curable resin with the addition of GNPs has been developed, with a complexly complexly shaped structure successfully printed via DLP without the involvement of a solvent. Compared with the traditional fracture toughness sample preparation method, DLP 3D printing with high resolution and reproducibility provides a simple and versatile way to perform a quick high resolution and reproducibility provides a simple and versatile way to perform a quick examination examination of reinforcing efficiency from nanofillers at very low cost.
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